Objective: Experience on thrombolysis and/or thrombectomy for acute major ischemic strokes in the setting of deep (less than 40,000/mm(3)) thrombocytopenia is limited.
Methods: Case report and review of the literature.
Results: A 63-year-old female with myelodysplastic syndrome presented with left middle cerebral artery stroke within 2 hours of symptom onset. Severe thrombocytopenia (10.000/mm(3)) precluded systemic thrombolysis. However, endovascular thrombectomy provided successful recanalization and dramatic clinical recovery with NIHSS score decreasing from 20 to 2 soon after the procedure. Her modified Rankin scale was 1 at the end of the third month.
Conclusion: This exceptional case highlights that neurothrombectomy could be feasible and of justifiable merit even in the setting of critically low thrombocytopenia if a meticulous procedure is followed in subjects with severe acute stroke.
Keywords: acute stoke; platelet counts; thrombectomy; thrombocytopenia; tissue plasminogen activator.